


Amnesia Across Aeons

by Sunchales



Category: Cthulhu Mythos - H. P. Lovecraft
Genre: Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-08 20:23:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4318752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sunchales/pseuds/Sunchales
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An excerpt from an entry in the Pnakotic Manuscripts describing the secret that the Great Race has always longed to plumb.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Amnesia Across Aeons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rosencrantz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosencrantz/gifts).



> "The Shadow out of the Time," the Great Race of Yith, and the Pnakotic Manuscripts are the creations of H. P. Lovecraft. All are in the public domain now.
> 
> Rosencrantz, I hope this contribution doesn't disappoint you.

The multitudinous questions regarding our original forms have unsettled us for millennia. Indeed, whether we would take our soul voyages so boldly or frequently as we have done historically had the mystery of our origins not gnawed at us incessantly. We recall our home planet’s name, but beyond this one vital hint, we have uncovered no materials toward our true history.

However, recent forays across the ebon gulf and temporal chasm have revealed secrets heretofore considered likely lost forever. Our world of Yith has now been glimpsed in what might must surely be its youth.

Yith’s sole landmass known at the time of this writing was a continent that spanned half the face of one side of the planet. This broad island enjoyed every known variety of biome; the west boasted deserts to rival what would become of Mars, and the verdant temperate forests of the east could fairly soothe a weary traveler with their mild coolness and gently trickling streams. Saline water, as expected, blanketed the rest of the world’s surface. In and out of this water—and in as often as out—lived the original Yithians.

Our first bodies resembled neither the beetles of Earth’s future nor the reptiles of Venus. Our forebears, in fact, were amphibious, though they did not duplicate the phenotype of the race known as the Deep Ones. The original Great Race rejoiced in multitudinous adaptations for life in the vast salt sea—gills along the flanks for respiration, muscular hydrostats to propel them through the water, tentacles for grabbing small and quick-darting prey--but our primordial ancestors also resided comfortably on land, where they could live free from the ever-present threat of the colossal carnivores that prowled the pelagic regions. Our ancestors’ soft, translucent bodies contained chromatophores that allowed them to glow in the dark and blend in perfectly with the indigo depths, and they exercised this function even when treading on solid ground to accentuate the expression of their feelings or, perhaps, to execute whimsy.

To the current extent of our knowledge, the original Great Race seems to have favored the continent’s southern region, which boasted the warmest, wettest climate. Much like the austral territory we thrive in on the planet we inhabit at the present time, the nethermost portion of the continent was covered in fertile, blooming jungles, and much urban activity centered around the tip closest to the broad purple ocean. The coastal environment seemed to soothe the citizens and inspire them to explore and analyze the world around them. The sight of the bright lavender sky falling across the violet sea nearly causes one to mourn our mass exodus from the world.

At any rate, the southern coast of this continent held what may be the galaxy’s, if not the universe’s, first laboratory. In this immense spherical building, constructed from the osseous tissue of dead marine invertebrates (as were the race’s personal habitations), the original Great Race conducted inordinate amounts of the research that not only improved their own living conditions but which brought us to where we are now. Despite its globular shape, this gray and porous-looking institute of science reared to the sky like one of our own basalt towers and consisted of multitudinous floors, each dedicated to a different discipline or function.

The original Great Race reproduced by laying clusters of eggs—sometimes in the water that bordered the island but more often in heated insulation tubes built into the perimeter of specialized rooms in their laboratories. In the centers of these rooms lay massive pools of brackish water where the newly hatched offspring could swim and gradually develop into their adolescence. Attendants, a squad of dedicated nursing staff primarily composed of individuals in their earliest stage of adulthood, supervised the larvae with great diligence and nurturance. None of the offspring were forgotten; the attendants fed and cared for all.

Most surprisingly, however, this laboratory’s basement held objects of undetermined purpose. One might expect the basement of a laboratory to contain outdated equipment no longer in use and perhaps an assortment of books and janitorial supplies. Instead, the underground chamber was crammed with paraphernalia intended for uses as of yet unfathomed. 

Specifically, a cluster of tripod-like devices stood in a ring in the center of the room, each of which was surrounded by smooth stones of varying colors. Intriguingly, these contraptions may have been the prototype for our own time-manipulators, given that fixtures of reflective surfaces like glass and little spinning shells mounted the tripods. More puzzling are the decorations on the stones. Each stone bore one of two patterns: two circles attached by an overhanging loop or its inversion. Future research will decipher their meaning.

And, just beside this odd display, jars of salt and ash lay broken on the floor. Their specific function remains a mystery, but the current conjecture is that they served as tools in some sort of fortune-telling ritual. Ironic that the universe's most advanced species would resort to a primitive pastime, and yet, for all our progress, we must still yield to the infinite mystery of the cosmos.


End file.
